‘The Holdovers’ Trailer: Alexander Payne Reunites With Paul Giamatti In ‘Bespoke’ Role

Alexander Payne goes back in time for his first film in six years.

Following 2017’s critically panned “Downsizing,” Payne returns to the big screen with “The Holdovers” with “Sideways” actor Paul Giamatti almost exactly 20 years later. Payne’s eighth feature film will be distributed by Focus Features.

“The Holdovers” follows a surly instructor (Giamatti) at a New England elementary school who is forced to stay on campus over Christmas break to babysit the handful of students who have nowhere to go. Eventually, she forms an unlikely bond with one of their own, a damaged and intelligent troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa), and the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (“The Idol” breakout Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

Payne directs from a screenplay by David Hemingson, who previously wrote the episodes of “Black-ish” and “Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23.” Focus Features is handling distribution of the film in the United States, while Universal Pictures International will distribute the film in international territories.

Oscar winner Payne said Expiration who has always wanted to collaborate with Giamatti ever since ‘Sideways’ in 2004. “Ever since working with Paul on ‘Sideways’, I’ve wanted to work with him again, and this role is tailor-made for him,” Payne said. said of the comedy-drama set in the 1970s. “I still think now as I did then. I hate to use the term ‘best actor of his generation’ because there are so many wonderful actors, but when I worked with him on ‘Sideways,’ I was blown away by the scope of him. As a director you want actors who can make even the wrong dialogue work, and he can do that. He can do anything. I think it’s a matter of time before he gets his Oscar.

Screenwriter Hemingson, Mark Johnson and Bill Block, with Andrew Golov, Thom Zadra and Chris Stinson as executive producers.

Payne will also direct a sequel to “Election” starring Reese Witherspoon, titled “Tracy Flick Can’t Win.”

“The Holdovers” opens with a limited theatrical release on November 10th. The film will be released worldwide on November 22nd. Watch the trailer below.